U.S. Lawmakers Back Israel In Flotilla Incident

Majorities in both houses of the U.S. Congress have signed on to letters affirming U.S. support for Israel in the wake of its raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

“We write to affirm our support for our strategic partnership with Israel, and encourage you to continue to do so before international organizations such as the United Nations,” begins the Senate letter, which garnered 83 of a possible 100 signatures after a week’s circulation. “The United States has traditionally stood with Israel because it is in our national security interest and must continue to do so.”

A similar House of Representatives letter garnered 307 signatures, also after a week.

The letters blame the Turkish charity involved in the Gaza flotilla incident for the violence. The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation, known as IHH, helped fund the ship Israel boarded on May 31, resulting in the deaths of nine Turks, including one Turkish American, and the injury of seven Israeli soldiers. The ship was one of six attempting to breach Israel’s embargo of the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of the Hamas terrorist group.

“Israeli forces were able to safely divert five of the six ships challenging the blockage,” the Senate letter says. “However, video footage shows that the Israeli commandos who arrived on the sixth ship, which was owned by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (the IHH), were brutally attacked with iron rods, knives, and broken glass. They were forced to respond to that attack and we regret the loss of life that resulted.”

Competing accounts of the melee — backed by incomplete video footage — blame both the Israeli commandos and the passengers for starting the violence.

Both letters allege that IHH is affiliated with Hamas, and the Senate letter urges President Obama to put the charity on the U.S. terrorist list “after an examination by the intelligence community, the State Department, and the Treasury Department.” Placement on the list makes it a crime to fund-raise for the cited group.